attendance | Schools Week

Revealed: the 21 areas set for £15m AP taskforces to prevent crime

The government has confirmed the 21 areas set to receive funding under a scheme to prevent vulnerable pupils in alternative provision “entering a life of crime”. Alternative provision specialist taskforces will be launched across England in “serious violence hotspots”, receiving £15 million between them in Treasury funding. The taskforces will include mental health professionals, family […]

Leading academy CEOs demand £5.8bn catch-up cash for poorer pupils

A group of leading academy trust bosses have set out proposals for a £5.8 billion Covid recovery plan, as Gavin Williamson confirmed he was lobbying within government for extra school funding. In an unusual intervention, the chief executives of five large multi-academy trusts have co-signed a letter to the education secretary warning failure to adopt […]

School attendance data to be published fortnightly from September

The government will only publish school attendance data every two weeks from September, it has emerged. It comes as government scientific advisers warned a “high prevalence” of Covid-19 was “highly likely” to be seen in schools by the end of September, and urged the government to “plan for this eventuality”. Data on pupil attendance and […]

DfE threatened with legal action over ‘unlawful’ Covid attendance rules

The government is being threatened with legal action if it fails to update attendance guidance for vulnerable children and families during the pandemic. The Good Law Project has written to education secretary Gavin Williamson asking him to issue guidance that protects vulnerable children and families, arguing the current rules are unlawful Previous safety measures – […]

Over 1 million children miss school because of Covid

More than a million children were absent from school last week because of Covid, new government data suggests. Department for Education attendance survey data shows around 1,050,500 pupils, or 14.3 per cent of the total pupil population were absent from state schools because of the virus last Thursday, up 25 per cent from 839,100, or […]

More than 1 in 10 pupils absent as isolation rises again

More than one in ten pupils were absent from school last week because of Covid, after the number of pupils self-isolating rose again. According to the Department for Education’s attendance survey data, around 839,100 children, or 11.2 per cent of the total pupil population, were absent from state schools for Covid-related reasons on July 8. […]

Exam changes can’t compensate for Covid hit to disadvantaged pupils, says government

Changes to next year’s exams cannot compensate for pupils’ divided experiences during the pandemic, the government has said, even as research from its own exams regulator laid bare the disruption to disadvantaged children’s education. On Monday, Ofqual and the Department for Education published a consultation on measures to “help mitigate the impact of disruption” for […]

Pupils three times more likely to be self-isolating in north-east than London

Secondary pupils in parts of northern England are more than three times as likely to miss classes while they self-isolate as their peers in London, according to new figures. The average pupil between year 7 and year 10 in a sample of north-east schools missed more than a third of their time in school last […]

More than 600,000 pupils off school due to Covid

More than 600,000 pupils were absent last week because of Covid, with around one in ten secondary pupils missing school. New Department for Education attendance survey data estimates 640,100 pupils, or 8.5 per cent of the total pupil population, were off school for Covid-related reasons last Thursday. This a 66 per cent rise from around […]